Top 5 things we are going to have to deal with in the near future

Here are a few things to ponder, Technology is advancing at a startling rate, populations are growing just as exponentialy, and here is my list of a few things we are going to have to face in our lifetime, that no other generation has ever had to deal with. So what are we going to do? And please let me know which one scares you the most? Are you looking forward to any of these? Are they all just conspiracy that you do not have to think twice about? And most important of all, are you ready?

#5 Peak Oil

Here is the basics, oil is a finite resource that takes millions of years and dead dinosaurs to create, we are using it at an exponential rate, eventually it will run out, that is a fact. Fortunately there are alternate sources of energy, we are just really bad at harnessing these resources right now, and of all the issues on this list, this one may be furthest down the line. Corporations have pushed us since the early 1900’s to become reliant upon oil, and its big business, for a good reason, it’s a great fuel! The problem is that we have no way to create oil, and once its gone, its gone. Peak oil is the point at which we have used half of the oil that the Earth has to offer, when production can no longer meet the demand, this will be a scary time for the human race. Why? Before oil was found the world’s population held steady for a thousand years slowly growing yes, but never exceeding more than a billion people, then we found oil and with it an artificial means to feed a fast growing population, in other words a farmer that used to be able to feed 20 people can now feed 2000 people, check out this chart:

Check out the spike that occurred after oil!

Now what happens when we run out of oil? Well keep reading because that’s my #3! Anyhow I encourage you to check out Thomas Malthus who believed that population growth was generally restricted by available resources, in other words when our resources go, that means unless we find a new source of energy able to produce similar energy as oil 7 to 8 billion people will have to go, it will be a terrible time for humans if that’s the case.

#4 Water Wars

Look around, there is no doubt fresh water resources are disappearing at an alarming rate, look at lake Mead for example, its down 60% from just the 1990’s! That’s the fresh water supply for the southwest, when it goes dry a lot of people will be thirsty. The problem is that large corporations are buying up water rights in America and abroad, they bottle this water, add a few little things to it, and sell it back to you at a thousand percent mark up. These entities have targeted Lake Mead, the Great Lakes and many smaller bodies of water in between. So what does it all mean? In the next 30 years or less who controls the water will have the power, much like todays rulers are oil people, and don’t tell me they aren’t, look around, who has power over everything? Who runs the government? It is those that control oil supplies! This will shift to water very soon,imagine a day when your taps don’t work or if they do the cost will be so high that many won’t be able to pay their water bills. This is scary because oil is not a necessity to live, as much as you need it, you won’t die without it, but without water, we are all dead!

 Lake Mead… Scary huh?

#3 Mass decrease in Population

Its inevitable, the Earth cannot support the number of people who it holds and will have to support in the near future. At some point there will have to be a major cull in human beings. I don’t believe this will come in one fell swoop and may even be in the form of population control. How will Americans react when our Government tells us that we may only have one child per couple. It goes against every type of freedom that our country stands for. But it’s not that far out of the question, China has already begun this process and other countries are soon to follow. Americans and many others in the free world believe it’s their natural right to have children, however the bottom line is that the way the population is exploding and we are already facing hunger issues. Statistics show that 1 in 4 American children do not know where their next meal is coming from! That is 25% of our kids, not starving, but living in poverty and worried that they will not get dinner tonight, what happens when that number hits 50%? That is when the bottom becomes disillusioned with the top, that when riots begin, and that is when dollar value drops and people march against their Government. Something has got to give, and it’s not that far away!

 The UN Hunger chart!

#2 Dirty Bomb/Nuclear War

We have seen what happens when a Nuclear weapon is used sort of, Fat Man and Little Boy were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and the damage was catastrophic. Image the advances in technology in general that have occurred since then… now apply that technology to Nuclear Weapons, scary! With all the threats going on right now, Iran, North Korea, ect… it is only a matter of time before one of these advanced weapons get used somewhere in the world. More than likely it won’t happen on US soil, it probably will happen somewhere closer to Israel or a North Korean Target such as Japan. However it will have worldwide consequences. The US and every other first world country will have to get involved, War will break out, our troops will have to go into these contaminated areas and clean up, the long lasting results will be absolutely horrid! A dirty bomb could be just as bad, with perhaps a weaponized anthrax or small pox, or some other airborne virus, the effects could spread across continents. This will happen, not if but when and we are going to have to deal with it.

#1 Singularity

Ahh yes, my favorite topic of discussion these days, the Singularity, for those of you that do not know what this is there are a few different ideas as to exactly what it means when we hit the Singularity. Some believe it is when Computers become self-aware, when they can recreate themselves and improve on each new model and basically wake up, an AI that recognizes itself and begins to focus on its own needs and wants. Some believe this will happen in robot form, a true Terminator Sky Lab incident, but most feel it will happen at the cloud level. The internet, the invisible networks that we have built begins to have a will of its own. The other take on the singularity is that humans and AI become one, through nanotechnology and robotics computers take over and merge with the human race. The bottom line is that it is already happening, the 3D printer revolution is near and soon machines will be able to create their own parts and eventually replicate themselves. It may happen by accident, in a lab somewhere a scientist tweaks an algorithm just to see what happens and unleashes a new threat upon the entire world. Or perhaps its more of a Matrix situation, imagine if just before you die, your brain and all of its processes could be uploaded to a system, where upon you live forever in a virtual world, a world without pain or hunger, no suffering, the ability to do whatever you want without real consequence. We are heading this way people, micro processors the size of atoms are already being produced! Top scientist have predicted this will happen in the next 20 to 30 years, and we will have to adapt or die!